In broadcast networks, such as broadcast television and radio, video content is inserted into the media stream for presentation to all the end users tuned to a particular channel. In conventional internet based video delivery systems, a user selects a video to watch that is received and viewed by the user. After the initial video is watched, the user typically must select another video to watch.
Furthermore, in broadcast networks the same advertisement is typically inserted into the media stream for presentation to all the end users. In such networks, there typically is no means for determining with precision how many end users experienced (e.g., viewed) an advertisement, which end users experienced the advertisement, or which end users responded to the advertisement. In addition, advertisements communicated via a broadcast network are not interactive, and, therefore, do not allow the operator to provide contextual advertising based on information about the viewer (e.g., the view's location, demographics, etc.), allow the viewer to supply personal information or request additional information, or facilitate impulse responses to the advertisements.
In contrast, interactive networks such as the internet are more amenable to the selective and precise distribution of video and advertising. Internet advertising in which advertisements are sold based on the number of impressions or the number of click-throughs is well known. Typically, such internet advertisements comprise a still image (e.g., a banner ad) or a hyperlink that is presented as part of a static web page.
When the user requests a video, it would be desirable to provide additional videos as well as advertisements that are selected to be pertinent to the requested video and/or contextual information of the end user such as the user's location, demographics, personal information, user's interests, information about the end user's computing device, information about the network to which the end user's computer is connected, and/or other information. In addition, it would be desirable to provide advertisements associated with one or more of the provided videos that are pertinent to the content of the video(s) such as the subject matter of the video, rating of the video, the contextual information, and/or other information.
Obtaining the contextual information, however, can be challenging. For example, end users typically do not wish to be bothered with providing information each time he or she views a video. Providing contextual advertisements—especially wherein the advertisement is personalized to the end user (e.g., includes the end user's name)—and customizing the video content based on the contextual information provides additional challenges. Consequently, there is a need for a system and method for selecting and providing video content and contextual advertisements for presentation with the selected video in a packet based communication system such as the Internet.
These and other advantages are provided by various embodiments of the present invention.